Recording Audio with Audacity

Audacity is a free, open source audio editing and recording program. This program is installed on all of the machines in the Language Learning Center.

Starting Audacity

Double-Click on the “Audacity” icon located on the desktop.

Starting a Recording

To start a new recording, click on the record button, which looks like a red circle.

While you are recording, you will see a waveform representation of your voice:

When you are finished, click on the stop button, which looks like a yellow square.

You may listen to your recording by clicking on the play button, which looks like a green triangle.

NOTE: If you don’t like your recording, and wish to start over, click on the small black X on the far left of the waveform window, next to the words “Audio Track.” Be careful with this—you’ll irretrievably lose your recording!

Saving Your Recording

When you’re happy with your recording, go to the "File" menu and choose "Export as MP3". DON’T choose "Save Project", because you won’t get an audio file.

NOTE: If you have problems saving as an MP3 file, use "Export as WAV" as a backup option.

Choose a name and a location for saving your recording, and then click "Save"

After clicking “Save”, you’ll be prompted to enter tag information— please enter your name as the artist, and a short description of your recording as the title. Entering information here will help identify this recording even if it accidentally gets renamed. When finished, click on “OK”. DO NOT HIT CANCEL or your recording will not be saved!

Congratulations, you’ve just saved your recording!

To quit Audacity, choose “File – Exit”. If prompted to “Save Changes before Closing”, you may safely click “No”, because you’ve already saved your recording as an MP3.

Installing Audacity on your own computer

Since Audacity is free, you may download and install this program on your own computer—the download link (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux) is: http://audacity.sourceforge.net.